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Dilemmas of American Empire: Can Obama Pull Off a Game-Changer in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan?

By Gary Dorrien

…s of weekly attacks and casualties, averaging 2,000 attacks per month. The numbers then dropped dramatically as ethnic cleansing was completed in many areas, the “surge” of U.S. forces restricted the flow of explosives into Baghdad, the Mahdi Army suspended its attacks, and the U.S. co-opted Sunni insurgents. But violence has spiked again recently; it’s a perilous business to depend on buying off the opposition; and most importantly, the fundament…

Using Science to Diss Religion

By Evan Derkacz

…tional wisdom and to propose new ways of thinking about old or intractable problems… among other things. But, as one who’s often skeptical of the conclusions drawn from social science research—if not of the methodologies behind the research itself—I’m particularly disappointed to see misleading conclusions drawn from a PS post. I’ll explain. Earlier this week PS’s excellent staff writer Tom Jacobs outlined some of the takeaways from a Canadian s…

Pennsylvania Anti-Immigration Law Unconstitutional

By Lauri Lebo

…visive laws like these destroy communities and distract from the very real problems that local governments are facing across the country. Immigration reform needs to come from the federal level. Local ordinances like these have a toxic effect on the community, injecting suspicion and discriminatory attitudes where they didn’t previously exist. (Full disclosure: I am an active member of the ACLU of Pennsylvania and consider Walczak a friend.) I lef…

The Leadership Failure of Park51

By Hussein Rashid

…erson. Rauf’s noticeable absence for the last several months speaks to the problems of relying on one individual, and the overall style of leadership. It should be easy in New York City to create a visibly diverse group of Muslim supporters that represents the richness of our community, and who can put forward a clearly articulated vision. A combination of Muslims from different interpretations, like the interfaith advisory board the organizers en…

Is This Light?

By Amina Wadud

…only wager a guess, not even worth mentioning I’m afraid. There are other problems about the word zinah, as recent times have shown. Verse 2 says to punish the female and the male guilty of zinah with one hundred lashes. (!!) Okay, that would be bad enough, but why then are some women (and so far it’s only been women) stoned to death? And why are women who have been victims of rape being lashed 100 times? I mean, rape is not some kind of adultery…

Christian Patriarchy Clouds Social Science Findings On Happy Marriages

By Darren E. Sherkat

…e which fit his vision of Christian patriarchy providing a solution to the problems of the modern family. I used data from the 2008 General Social Surveys to examine whether or not religious factors help marital satisfaction among African Americans. I found that among whites religious participation has a positive effect on self-reported marital happiness controlling for other things like education, gender, and income. However, among African Americ…

You Asked For It

By Amina Wadud

…are fasting. I don’t think we can make a case about Ramadan and what ever number of incidents that might occur due to some individual Muslims. There is no statistical corollary between fasting, Islam, Muslims and the (still unacceptable) violation. As the nature of the debates over the proposed Islamic cultural center a couple of blocks from Ground Zero has brought to the fore, Islamaphobia is alive and well. For me: I do not condone prejudice ag…

Scripture for Alan Simpson

By Daniel Schultz

…aid waste by a foreign power and its citizens dragged off into slavery in a hostile land, but we’re not in the greatest shape. And still there are people who think the way to deal with social problems is to take it out of the hide of the vulnerable. What have we become? *Some translations render it as “sea monsters” and their breasts. It’s jackals….

Degrees of Separation

By Amina Wadud

…ading the prayers. This does not mean I have not continued to observe some problems—but since these are mostly logistical, I let them go without comment. Last night, I hit a breaking point. I thought about calling this entry “Is Silence Really Golden?” I thought about Fatimah Mernissi’s critique of the analogy between silence, invisibility and piety for women. I wonder what it would take for the women of this community to be positioned for better…

America’s First Mormon Televangelist

By Joanna Brooks

…levangelist is that unlike an actual religious leader, Beck has no actual pastoral responsibility for the care of souls, and that unlike an actual elected official, Beck has no actual responsibility for devising practicable solutions to incredibly thorny problems like financial market meltdowns, runaway health care costs, or ending the costly and ill-conceived wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yes, it is in fact easier to pray on your knees (as Beck e…